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Nonsense. Both Fedora and Ubuntu very regularly make releases that completely fail to support the NVIDIA driver for weeks (months, a few times), and it is absolutely NOT the fault of the distro. If X changes its driver ABI or the kernel makes an API change, neither of those distros hold back updates waiting for NVIDIA. They release, and NVIDIA users sit with their thumbs up their rear ends waiting for NVIDIA to update their driver. Same with ATI's fglrx. Most other distros do the same.

Neither Fedora nor Ubuntu (nor most other popular distros) target users who need their high-end Quadro/FireGL/whatever cards to work, and Linux as a whole does not target gamers. Again, doesn't matter if you agree or not with the decisions, those are the facts.

The only way that is EVER going to change is if NVIDIA, ATI, and Intel start releasing top-notch Open Source drivers or if the Linux graphics stack comes to an absolute stand-still.

Well first of all people that use the high end cards for professional use, do not generally use cutting edge distro releases. They tend to go with long term support releases which are tested heavily for use with the blobs. Also while cards may not always work with alpha's and beta's of the consumer releases of a distro I can't remember a time where nvidia has not had support ready for the final release.

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Also while cards may not always work with alpha's and beta's of the consumer releases of a distro I can't remember a time where nvidia has not had support ready for the final release.

Every single Ubuntu and Fedora release that includes a new X.org has had this problem save the last, and that's only because NVIDIA put out a beta driver for them. You can search both the Ubuntu and Fedora forums for older releases that had incompatible X.org updates, and you'll see many a thread about "the NVIDIA driver doesn't work!!!?!!~~!111!!~"

I've been using both distros since their inceptions (and used Debian and Red Hat for years before they existed), and until recently I was a loyal NVIDIA customer. I've felt the pain many, many times.

Those updates usually had quick fixes -- a beta driver at least would be published within a week or three that includes the updated DDX ABI or kernel glue code. Now, however, we're apparently approaching a point where the new interfaces are GPL-only. Things are going to get worse for binary driver users, not better.

If you're an NVIDIA user, now is a great time to help the Nouveau folks out any way you can.

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Don't assume that everyone wants to grow Linux badly enough to the point where more developer effort is spent on "eye-candy" than on real functionality. Linux is currently popular enough where even stubborn companies (e.g. Creative) have to take notice of it if they don't want their support sites bombarded with angry Linux users/customers.

Pandering to n00bs is okay to some extent, if the n00bs are willing to learn, but growing the user base too fast can lead to problems, especially with an OS that has relied on experienced volunteers supporting the new users (for the most part). For example, look at the Ubuntu user forums. The ratio of the helpers to the helpless is ridiculous (I've contributed to the forums since the Feisty days).

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Those updates usually had quick fixes -- a beta driver at least would be published within a week or three that includes the updated DDX ABI or kernel glue code. Now, however, we're apparently approaching a point where the new interfaces are GPL-only. Things are going to get worse for binary driver users, not better.

Not necessarily, if anything nvidia has shown in the past it can easily adapt to what ever curve balls the FOSS community throws at them. If they throw a curve so outside of the strike zone all they are going to accomplish is forcing big players that use the high end stuff to switch back to a OS where that concern is no longer present. In the end the FOSS community would end up shooting them selves in the foot.

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In the end the FOSS community would end up shooting them selves in the foot.

Hardly. The FOSS world neither begins nor ends with the Linux kernel.

Perhaps Linux would drop off of as a leading render-farm/workstation OS, but either OpenSolaris or FreeBSD (or one of its cousins) or one of the many other FOSS OSes are far more likely to take its place than the sole remaining Big Popular Proprietary OS.

While it is true that Plymouth can take advantage of KMS, it is not a requirement. My Fedora 10 install runs the animated flaring sun boot screen on an nVidia card quite well. It's not enabled by default, but it can be done relatively easily.

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Yeah I've never understood why any knowledgeable linux user would want to hide all the important boot messages. Besides, with gentoo on a SSD I'm already in X in 10-15 seconds, barely enough time to turn on my monitor and sit down. I like eyecandy as much as anyone, but not when it limits usability.

Personally, I think you answered your own question. Who actually manages to read that stuff anymore? Unless the boot really hangs then at the very best I'll see a red line flashing past and that's it. That is if I make it an effort to stare at the screen as it boots.

If it's in a bootable state, I'd much rather have a "Linux experienced some warnings/errors on boot. Click _here_ for details." in KDM/GDM or a systray applet after logging in. If you want to talk usability, what's less userfriendly than "Whoops, you missed it... well I'm not going to repeat myself, you'll find out on your own!"